kaulat

It's not everyday a guy blows himself up on the North-West of Tasmania. Guy Fawkes night isn't that popular any more, which stops the most industrious Dads passing down their backyard knowledge of fireworks to their kids. First National Real Estate CEO, Ray Ellis, however is an exception. Yesterday, Ellis and his unnaturally large set of Captain America white teeth, found himself sitting on a box of dynamite with a quick burning fuse after suggesting , well I'll copy/paste so you can regale in the comedic horror: "SELFISH" baby boomers are keeping generation Y out of the housing market, First National Real Estate chief executive Ray Ellis believes. Mr Ellis paid out on what he called the "most self-indulgent, spoilt, want everything for nothing generation that ever existed" in an exclusive interview with The Advocate during a visit to the North- West on Wednesday. He wants governments to encourage boomers to move into smaller homes to free up housing for...

I've been spending the last week or so in the company of people from outside the U.S. Our fall weather has been perfect - 60s and sunny, that wonderful wind that stirs up the leaves, warm nights and a full moon. Our area is so rich with colors now and everyone remarked on them. We are different here - and until you have experienced the Finger Lakes region in the fall I don't think it can be fully imagined. I remember being in Seattle and traveling out into the mountains in a long, long line of other foliage seekers, only to see yellow and more yellow - where were the reds and oranges I had grown up with? There's no place like home! Currently in the Skaneateles area as designated by the multiple listing service there are 131 active listings, of which 34 are in the village. This may not be totally accurate - some agents place listings in both the village and the town so they won't be overlooked. Of these 131, 31 are noted as "waterfront." I would think l...

Apologies for the lack of anything substantial this week, unfortunately I do have employment and other things going on. Needless to say little has changed in Tasmania - except for it getting worse. Burnie listings have exploded, so much so, I feel like a bear handler from a former Soviet state when talking about it - I could be up on cruelty charges, it's almost poking a caged animal with a stick at this stage. Devonport continues to rise and Launceston looks like it's about to blow after adding another fifty plus listings before the week is out. After reading Jeremy Grantham's latest "Night of the Living Fed" newsletter at work today, I had hoped to present it as some super new news, but David Llewellyn-Smith squeezed me out on that front. I will say, in a moment of Chris Joye pomposity, I'm taking credit for Grantham's follow up, given the fact I made sure GMO was fully aware of the the howling from Australian vested interests to his bubble claims. Take...

6915 SEASIDE Walk, Long Beach, CA 90803 Wishing Price: $3,300,000 Beds: 4 Baths: 2.5 Sq. Ft.: 3,498 $/Sq. Ft.: $943 Lot Size: 2,394 Sq. Ft. Year Built: 2002 Community: Belmont Shore/Park/Naples/Marina Pacific/Bay Harbor MLS#: P715930 On Redfin: 294 days Down Payment: $660,000 Income Requirement: $754,000 Monthly Nut: $18,000 Description: Private Spectacular Location, Oceanfront, on the Sand with Awesome Panoramic Views of Catalina Island, Port of Long Beach, Seal Beach, Alamitos Bay and Naples Island. This gorgeous tri-level Mediterranean (2002 new construction) Peninsula home provides effortless waterfront living and entertaining. Dramatic sweeping spiral staircase leads you from the first to the second and third levels wrapping the circular turret. This open and airy floor plan has high ceilings, gorgeous architectural details including barrel ceilings and beautiful arches. Gourmet kitchen with granite counters, Bosch dishwasher, custom cabinetry, over-sized center island, Master Bat...

As I woke up with morning breath to make any canine proud, I poked my head out the front door - finding I'd once again left out money for the paper boy, who'd once again delivered me Tasmania's worst newspaper. I gotta have words with that little creep. The Launceston rotter, The Examiner, or in this case The Sunday Examiner - an even more uninspiring version of the Monday to Saturday version - is one of those newspapers you can count on to toe the expected business line, while smashing the usual suspects and soft targets with full force. Look out bogans and drink drivers. Four pages in, readers were treated to an story entitled "Opening doors on property", where Australian Property Monitors, Anthony Ishac was busy sending out some conflicting signals. The data presented showed Burnie down 11% in the last quarter (I won't be the smart arse who extrapolates that to an annual figure) and Launceston down 2%, which mirrored the state and national decline. Yet as b...

Announcer: Reports continue to flow from the outer colonies of plastic and wood structures being erected on front lawns. Debate rages in the local communities regarding the how and why, but one consensus has emerged - this isn't good for real estate prices. Lady stands in front of house. Lady: I don't know where these signs are coming from, but I want it to stop. I've got one either side of me and the longer they sit here the more I can feel my home value going down and we've only got 10% equity in this thing. We had 15% but we took some out to buy a new boat and BBQ. As the bad news piles up, much to the chagrin of the real estate industry, who have effectively now lost control of the media, the bubble boys are furiously comparing notes - trying to understand where the epicentre is. Don't discount Tasmania's ability to punch above its weight. Right now in Tasmania, real estate signs are appearing like the plague cross did in 1400's Europe. Real estate agent...

I know at least one Realtor out there who always comments on my blog to me when I speak with him. He's amazed I can keep it going with the pace of our deals and dealings. I wish I could do better - write more often, pithier perhaps. I enjoy writing, and would love to work it in to a daily schedule. The New Year is coming up - but I welcome ideas! Until then - there are currently 132 listings in the Skaneateles area of the multiple listing service, 32 of which are in the village. Three new ones came on, all totally new not re-listings. One each for village, town and waterfront. The town home is a very small one in the the mid-$100,000 just over the village line. The village listing is one of those quite stately mansions - no waterfront, just an extraordinary view and under one million dollars. The waterfront is under two million and gorgeous, not that far from the village. There are no new contingent properties, and only 18 marked U or P - that means..... Yes! Three prope...

We aren't even there yet and life is beginning to imitate art. With news again rumbling out of the RBA about potential rising interest rates and credit card debt back scaling the mountain of stupidity, a dude in the Hobart suburb of Moonah has gone all Nancy Botwin, moonlighting as a pot barren to ease his financial distress. Why? Well for this guy, the brown stuff from the bowels hit the air displacement mechanism when the fixed rate mortgage on a rental property switched from fixed to variable. It was then, the mild mannered father of three, junior soccer coach and scout volunteer, saw a grow-op as his best chance to get things back on track. As you'd understand, for any average guy who was earning over $100k a year - well it's hard out there for a pimp - when he trying to get money in as rent - SUV and petrol money spent - and bitches like me talking shit. That's right, brother was earning over $100k a year and still struggled with the payments before he turned hydr...

Oct 15, 2010 - Price Changed $375,000 After spending the last TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTEEN DAYS stuck on the same ridiculous asking price, just days after my latest post the price dropped by $15,000. Looks like somebody reads the Long Beach Housing Blog. Or is it just coincidence? ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Days on Market: 324 I mean, why not just take it off the market? 11 months on the MLS and you've only managed a measly 8% price reduction...from a hilariously WTF asking price, no less. And that last price cut was seven months ago! Just give up the ghost, buddy. You're clearly not interested in selling, so pack up your stupid fish-eye lens and quit wasting our time. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 2805 East 3RD St #14, 90814 WTF Price: $425,000 Beds: 2 Baths: 2 Sq. Ft.: 1,000 $/Sq. Ft.: $425 (The highest ppsft in this zip is $314) Year Built: 1974 MLS#: S596231 Source: SoCalMLS On Redfin: 30 days HOA Fine: $263 Down Payment: $15,000 (FHA) Income Requirement (4x income): $...

Tomorrow I host an open house at 6070 East Lake Road in the Town of Owasco. This is a gorgeous home - very well built in 1992 and maintained since then. It has four bedrooms and three full baths. The first floor master is large enough for a sitting area with lake views; the bath has a jetted tub and huge walk-in closet. Upstairs there are the other three bedrooms - but wait! One has its own bathroom as well! Another master, that in another home would be the master. Add in 1.84 very flat acres, hardwoods throughout, dining room, living room, family room with fireplace, no maintenance decking on the front porch, close enough to Skaneateles (15 minutes), Syracuse (35 minutes), Ithaca (40 minutes) and Auburn (7 minutes) to make living in the country easy! All well and good, but what about the price? We just reduced it to $310,000 - that's about $100 per square foot! The lot next door, about half the size, is on the market for $70,000. So what we've got here is a great home, on a g...

It’s slightly ironic, as we come to the end of Mental Health week, that the real estate industry is having an anxiety attack and from my remote diagnosis, showing signs of bi-polar disorder. Yesterday, while the REIT CEO was busy participating in a feature on the North-West of the state, detailing how tough the Tasmanian market was, giving quotes on sales being down 20% and where blame should be apportioned, the newly minted REIT President was at the other end of the state, talking up Tasmania - with higher demand and strong interest from speculators.   Somebody is off the reservation, or possibly hasn’t even arrived on the reservation yet. Whatever the case, the REIT needs to get their communications in order, maybe a dose of Malcolm Tucker would do the trick. A united front at least gives the appearance, to the less nuanced amongst us, that everything is fine. It’s clearly not. The lead for the article was an unfortunate boast – “ Sandy Bay is makin’ it rain: Dollar bills f...

They used to tell me I was selling a dream, and so I followed the mob, When there was a home to show, or contracts to sign, I was always there right on the job. They used to tell me I was selling a dream, with riches and glory ahead, Why should I be standing in line, just waiting for bread? Brother, can you spare a dime? This morning, on the way to work, some guy sporting a bluetooth ear piece and a sharp suit was hassling me for spare change. Confused, I tossed him a coin and thought nothing more of it. By mid-afternoon I knew what was up and I wanted my coin back. Apparently there is a real estate Hindenburg going down in Tasmania (who knew), which some real estate agents finally admitted to this morning. You probably already know about this because it was featured on bubblepedia and delusional economics this afternoon. And right now the web nerds at The Advocate are busy scratching their heads, wondering where all those hits came from. Online , our old buddy, Deanne ' seve...

Since nothing much happened this past week according to the statistics for Skaneateles, I thought I would take a moment to write about my mother. This would have been her 90th birthday today. She passed away in 2006, having lived the last 4 years with us in a most marvelous in-law suite. She was born in 1920, in Syracuse, a city where she always resided until moving out to Elbridge. She was raised during the Depression by a single woman with two older children, having lost one to polio. They were poor - very, very poor. She tells a story about giving away her one true possession, a string of fake pearls, to a girl who had invited her to her birthday party. Unable to come up with a gift, she gave her the pearls. The girl looked at them and threw them away in front my mother - "They're fake!" she scorned. My grandmother tended a florist's shop. I always liked that detail - my grandmother was tiny, barely five feet tall, and still spoke a bit of German. She had been char...

4512 East BARKER Way, Long Beach, CA 90814 Wishing Price: $670,000 Beds: 2 Baths: 1 Sq. Ft.: 832 $/Sq. Ft.: $805 Lot Size: 2,400 Sq. Ft. Year Built: 1924 Community: Belmont Heights/Alamitos Heights County: Los Angeles MLS#: P748010 On Redfin: 61 days Down Payment: $134,000 Income Requirement: $153,000 (3.5x mortgage)/$191,000 (3.5x home price) Monthly Nut: $3,400 Description (if you can call it that): Stunning Belmont Heights, very private location! This home has never been on the market! This spanish home is very rare. They're not far off on that "This home has never been on the market" claim. Check out the 2009 tax basis: Land $22,394 Additions $7,881 Total $30,275 ________________ Tax (2009): $542 Holy toledo! This thing has been in the family for ages. And now the next of kin want to sink their greasy fangs into mee-maw's goldmine. But their greed is preventing them from seeing just how unbelievably outrageous this asking price is. It's worth noting that not ...

As I predicted, this deadbeat skipped town and left the bank to deal with the mess. The bank lent out $560,000 in 2005 for this joint, and is now asking a measly $379,900 -- a nearly $181,000 difference. Anyway, I imagine the new REO price will entice some buyers. Or will it? Unless you've been living in a Chilean mine for the last few weeks (too soon?), you've heard about what some are calling "Foreclosuregate." From what I understand, banks were wholly ill-prepared for the massive influx of foreclosures starting in 2007 ("Wait a minute. I thought prices only went up and people could 'just refinance' when they had trouble making payments.") and hired any jabroni off the street with a pulse (kind of sounds like their mortgage-issuance strategy too). And under pressure to process this ever-growing pile of foreclosures, these knuckleheads mishandled, fudged, or outright forged a lot of the paperwork. For some reason the mainstream media is focusing o...

In the face of continuing rodent infested news for housing, what better time for BIS Shrapnel to come out with one of their housing outlooks, predictions, forecasts, whatever. One seems to roll out every quarter, under a different guise, reheating essentially the same information. Basically with the job of communicating from the sector, to the naive, through a lazy media, how awesome shit is gonna get. The equivalent of an agent reassuring you: "you'll never lose in this location." And if you are naive, or just twelfth man on the deal team, last to know - this one rolled out after being commissioned by QBE LMI. Yes sir, they're a big old issuer of mortgage insurance. Needless to say house prices are going up. So don't delay, buy one for Mum, one for Dad and one for QBE. In the face of all common sense, you can make 13% in Hobart over the next 3 years, or you could go backwards even further, like some Hobart residences previously featured in this blog. Which bring...

Holy crap. Do you remember this dummy? This design disaster was listed in June 2009 for $699,000 and pulled off the market after five fruitless months. No biggie, just another delusional nutjob who couldn't get his wishing price, tucked his tail between his legs, and delisted the house never to be seen again. Well, not so fast. Because he's back. And he's armed with a $76,000 price increase. WTF? He must be snorting massive rails of Hopecaine, because I simply can't figure out how he justifies that massive premium over the last failed listing. It's also worth noting that the home has now been abandoned: This pig-faced property is a Notice of Default waiting to happen. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Address: 341 Granada, 90814 Asking Price: $699,000 Year Built: 1923 Size: 3 bed, 3 bath, 1,650 sq. ft. $/Sq. Ft.: $424 Purchase Price: $415,000 Purchase Date: 4/2002 MLS #: P692837 On Redfin : 4 days Down Payment: $140,000 Monthly Payment: $4,000 Income Requirement: $2...